2019 Cornas Pur Noir
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Tasting notes
Glass-staining ruby. Seductively perfumed dark berry liqueur, potpourri, smoky bacon and olive aromas show fine definition and vibrant mineral lift. Offers palate-staining, spice-accented blackberry, bitter cherry and violet pastille flavors that deepen and become sweeter through the midpalate. Distinctly rich but energetic as well, with an impressively long finish that features youthfully chewy tannins and a hint of bitter chocolate and lingering floral and exotic spice notes. These grapes are sourced mostly from 120ish-year-old vines in the Combe lieu-dit that were formerly farmed by Marcel Juge.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds
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The 2019 Cornas Pur Noir is as good as Cornas gets, and readers should beg, borrow, or steal to get hold of bottles of this legendary beauty. Dense purple, with a massive, concentrated, yet flawlessly balanced profile, it has classic Cornas notes of bacon fat, smoked game, crushed stone, cassis, and bloody blue fruits. It’s one of those wines that’s hard to describe, but it brings everything you could want from this grape while still being light on its feet and weightless. As usual, this cuvée comes from a single parcel of granite soils and was brought up barrel. Give bottles 3-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades. Hats off to talents of Stéphane Robert!
Intensely perfumed aromas of black/blue fruit liqueur, exotic spices, olive and potpourri pick up a smoky mineral nuance with air. Juicy and energetic in the mouth, displaying densely packed blueberry, cherry and salty olive flavors, along with hints of spicecake and candied flowers. The floral and spice notes carry through a strikingly long, dark-fruit-dominated finish that features steadily building tannins and a hint of bitter chocolate.